Is school food really that bad for kids? Recent reports about public school lunch programs suggest that some schools offer little more than reorganized junk food menus for students’ breakfast and lunch programs. But if the alternative is that some kids will eat little or nothing during the day, perhaps the typical school food offerings are acceptable, to a point. Let’s consider the pros and cons of a typical school meal program to see how serious the school food issue really is.

Traditional Public School Lunch Periods Previous generations of students did not receive hot food lunch options. In fact, public schools offered no food to students. Instead, kids went home for lunch, presumably living in surrounding communities within walking distance. Or, if they commuted, they were assigned to a classroom or home room where they ate a packed lunch brought from home.

Occasionally, a parent or relative would drop off a hot sandwich or thermos of soup, but most students packed sandwiches, fruit, raw veggies, and maybe some cookies or a piece of cake. Sounds like a pretty wholesome lunch compared to today’s menus, doesn’t it? Water was the beverage of the day, and could be carried in a bottle, jug, plastic container, or simply drunk from the school yard pump or indoor drinking fountain. There were few corner stores or diners where students could go for lunch before 1950, and even if there was an eatery nearby, few students had enough pocket money to be able to afford to buy lunch every day.

School Lunch Programs During the 1940s, 50s and 60s, as American society became more urban with greater numbers of people living in the cities and more large schools being built to accommodate students therein, some schools began offering occasional hot food, like hot dogs and sloppy Joes. These dishes could be ordered in advance for about 10 or 15 cents per sandwich, on special days, but not necessarily daily. Milk could be purchased for 5 cents, and children were encouraged to bring fresh fruit and vegetables or a portable dessert from home to round out the luncheon. Some local churches sponsored weekly soup days for nearby schoolchildren, with homemade soup available for a small price. Soda shops appeared where students with money from parents could buy a snack after school to supplement packed lunches.

As more new schools were built according to a progressive education plan, the buildings were equipped with cafeterias to ensure that students remaining on the premises for a full day of instruction could have access to freshly-prepared, nourishing food at reasonable cost. Many families, which increasingly began to depend on two incomes, relied on the schools to meet their children’s nutritional needs during the work week. Children from low-income families could not afford to pay anything for lunches sometimes, so they did not get the benefits of these programs until reduced-income lunches became available during the 1960s and on.

Families that could demonstrate limited income were entitled to purchase cheap or free lunch tickets for their children. Although information about who received these discounts was supposed to be kept private, it sometimes leaked out, resulting in embarrassment for those students, who consequently, sometimes stopped using the discount lunch tickets.

By the 1970s, a majority of public school children had access to a school lunch program that provided an alternative to home-packed lunches or prepared food bought from local shops or restaurants.

School Food NutritionSchool food programs initially offered limited menu items, including chocolate and white milk (small and large sizes), hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries, and cookies. As parents became more aware of these menus and began to register concerns or complaints, school systems adjusted the menus to include healthier options, such as salads, fresh fruit and low-fat milk. As before, some students would bring a sandwich or soup from home, and supplement the meal with one or more items from the cafeteria.

At first, the public applauded this system, pleased that school lunch food was readily available for students who might otherwise not be able to eat on a regular basis. Kids enjoyed the menu items that were tailored to their tastes and easy to eat “finger foods” that they could gulp in a hurry while socializing with friends. Few complaints about junk food in school showed up at this time.

Junk Food in SchoolOther fast food items continued to appear in many school cafeterias, such as pizza and tacos. Breakfast offerings usually centered on doughnuts, juice and milk. Vending machines in the school buildings were stocked with canned soda, chips, candy bars, and gum, not exactly the most wholesome fare for growing young bodies and healthy minds. As the word got out, many parents grew alarmed. These were not the foods they wanted their kids to eat, especially in a school building, where they would associate education with approving a junk-food eating style.

Some parents contacted the principal and school board superintendent to express their dissatisfaction with the current school lunch food, while others circulated petitions for a junk food ban in schools. Junk food in school was unacceptable, and they were prepared to take action if necessary to stop it.

Pros of Current School Lunch FoodThe argument about offering junk food to kids in public school continues. One advantage is that at least the kids are eating something, instead of nothing, getting energy and a certain amount of nutrition that they otherwise might not get at home in some families.

Also, with the school providing food at breakfast and lunch, students would understand the value and necessity of eating both meals. If they didn’t like the food or their parents complained it was junk food, they could eat something else at home or bring food with them, but at least the school was placing importance on the first two meals of the day.

Getting a hot meal was another possible advantage to the system, since cooked food could make kids feel more satisfied with the meal as opposed to eating a cold sandwich.

Finally, with growing parental and public attention on school lunch programs and concern over junk food in school, some forward-thinking individuals could begin planning more nutritional ways to feed students, building on the current plan, if they deemed it inadequate.

Cons of Junk Food in School The obvious arguments include the one that bad food served in schools teaches kids the wrong way to plan and eat meals. Schools should be role models, not stoop to conventional or convenient policies. When children eat junk food at school, they may expect to do the same at home, arguing that if they can do it at school, why not elsewhere, too?

Another problem stems from possible health problems associated with poor nutrition. Obesity, diabetes and even preliminary high blood pressure and eventual heart problems can begin with poor nutrition in schools. Additionally, kids eating high-fat, low-nutrition foods are more likely to perform less effectively on academic work at school.

If you are concerned about this problem in your local school district, discuss it with other parents in the community. Then meet with your school administrators to discuss ways of improving school food offerings to teach kids proper nutrition and keep them healthy.

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